Application runtime expert for deployment of an application on multiple computer systems

ABSTRACT

An application Runtime Expert (ARE) manages deployment of application software on multiple computer systems. The ARE assists the user in verifying and fixing configuration and environment details of an application deployed on multiple computer systems. The ARE creates a user configurable XML template that contains configuration and environment details based on information collected from a master system that has a known good deployment. The ARE allows a user to edit the XML logic in the template and add plug-ins to the template. The XML template with the added plug-ins are sent to a target system and used to verify the deployment on the target system compared to the master system and to make fixes to the target system&#39;s configuration.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This disclosure generally relates to computer tools for managingcomputer systems, and more specifically relates to an applicationruntime expert for management of software deployed on multiple computersystems.

2. Background Art

Computer software applications are becoming increasingly complex. Anapplication may be installed on many computer systems and differentcomputer platforms but differences in the install and configuration ofthe software and the runtime environment details may lead to softwareerrors, management, and runtime problems. Configuring and maintainingapplication software installed on multiple computer systems is thusbecoming increasingly complex and expensive. Each application has manyconfiguration and environment details that must be setup to insure theapplication will execute properly. System administrators need to be ableto verify that the installation and configuration of applications arecorrect to insure proper execution and to trouble shoot errors. Inaddition, software vendors need a way to quickly and accurately verifytheir software product install is correct and that the environment inwhich the software runs is as expected for their software product.

Prior art software tools have been developed to allow an administrator,software vendor, or user to ascertain the health of a computer system.These tools are used to check application configuration and operatingsystem environment details for an application deployment on a computersystem. The details checked are limited to those originally coded in thehealth tool. Thus the prior art tools are typically limited to checkingthe operating system environment of a single system against a set ofpre-programmed, non-configurable parameters.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The disclosure and claims herein are directed to an Application RuntimeExpert (ARE) for managing application software on multiple computersystems. The ARE assists the user in verifying and fixing theconfiguration and environment details of an application deployment onmultiple computer systems. The ARE creates a user configurable templatethat contains configuration and environment details based on informationcollected from a reference system that has a known good deployment. Thetemplate preferably consists of one or more extensible markup language(XML) files. The ARE allows a user to edit the XML files in thetemplate. In addition, the ARE allows the user to add plug-ins to thetemplate. The XML template with the added plug-ins are sent to a targetsystem and used to verify the deployment on the target system comparedto the reference system and to make fixes to the configuration based onproblems found during the verification. The ARE also prepares a reportof the deployment verification that was performed on the target system.Plug-ins added to the template are executed on the target system toprovide additional deployment verification for the report. The userconfigurable features allow the user to edit the logic of the deploymenttemplate to specify precisely what configuration items should be checkedby the ARE for the user's specific application, specify environmentdetails, and to add additional plug-ins to extend the template formanagement of application specific or platform specific deploymentdetails.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following more particular description, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appendeddrawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system with an applicationruntime expert as described herein;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer system utilizing an applicationruntime expert (ARE) to verify a deployment on multiple targetcomputers;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that shows further details of the ARE 124being used to create a deployment template;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a deploymenttemplate;

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample XML file of a deployment template to verifya system value in a target system;

FIG. 6 illustrates a sample custom plugin created by a user to includein a deployment template;

FIG. 7 is a method flow diagram for creating a deployment template; and

FIG. 8 is a method flow diagram for verifying the deployment of a targetsystem using a deployment template as claimed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An Application Runtime Expert (ARE) for managing application software onmultiple computer systems is described herein. The ARE assists the userin verifying and fixing the configuration and environment details of anapplication deployment on multiple computer systems. The ARE creates auser configurable template that contains configuration and environmentdetails based on information collected from a reference system that hasa known good deployment. The template preferably consists of one or moreextensible markup language (XML) files. The ARE allows a user to editthe XML files in the template. In addition, the ARE allows the user toadd plug-ins to the template. The XML template with the added plug-insare sent to a target system and used to verify the deployment on thetarget system compared to the reference system and to make fixes to theconfiguration based on problems found during the verification. The AREalso prepares a report of the deployment verification that was performedon the target system. Plug-ins added to the template are executed on thetarget system to provide additional deployment verification for thereport. The user configurable features allow the user to edit the logicof the deployment template to specify precisely what configuration itemsshould be checked by the ARE for the user's specific application,specify environment details, and to add additional plug-ins to extendthe template for management of application specific or platform specificdeployment details.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. A computer readablesignal medium may include a propagated data signal with computerreadable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or aspart of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of avariety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic,optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signalmedium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computerreadable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, ortransport a program for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on acomputer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriatemedium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fibercable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider). Aspects of the present invention are described below withreference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods,apparatus (systems) and computer program products according toembodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block ofthe flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmabledata processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, orother devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed onthe computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 is one suitableimplementation of a computer system that includes an application runtimeexpert as described herein. Computer system 100 is an InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation (IBM) System i (iSeries) computer system.However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosureherein applies equally to any computer system, regardless of whether thecomputer system is a complicated multi-user computing apparatus, asingle user workstation, or an embedded control system. As shown in FIG.1, computer system 100 comprises one or more processors 110, a mainmemory 120, a mass storage interface 130, a display interface 140, and anetwork interface 150. These system components are interconnectedthrough the use of a system bus 160. Mass storage interface 130 is usedto connect mass storage devices with a computer readable medium, such asdirect access storage devices 155, to computer system 100. One specifictype of direct access storage device 155 is a readable and writableCD-RW drive, which may store data to and read data from a CD-RW 195.

Main memory 120 preferably contains an operating system 121. Operatingsystem 121 is a multitasking operating system known in the industry asi5/OS; however, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the spiritand scope of this disclosure is not limited to any one operating system.The memory further includes a software application 122. Deploymentdetails 123 is application configuration information that includesdetails of the application, the computer system environment and theoperating system where the application is installed as described furtherbelow. The memory further contains an application runtime expert (ARE124) as described herein. With user input, the ARE 124 produces adeployment template 125 with one or more custom plugins 126 and one ormore XML Files 127.

Computer system 100 utilizes well known virtual addressing mechanismsthat allow the programs of computer system 100 to behave as if they onlyhave access to a large, single storage entity instead of access tomultiple, smaller storage entities such as main memory 120 and DASDdevice 155. Therefore, while operating system 121, application 122,deployment details 123, ARE 124 and the deployment template 125 areshown to reside in main memory 120, those skilled in the art willrecognize that these items are not necessarily all completely containedin main memory 120 at the same time. It should also be noted that theterm “memory” is used herein generically to refer to the entire virtualmemory of computer system 100, and may include the virtual memory ofother computer systems coupled to computer system 100.

Processor 110 may be constructed from one or more microprocessors and/orintegrated circuits. Processor 110 executes program instructions storedin main memory 120. Main memory 120 stores programs and data thatprocessor 110 may access. When computer system 100 starts up, processor110 initially executes the program instructions that make up operatingsystem 121 and later executes the program instructions that make up theARE 124.

Although computer system 100 is shown to contain only a single processorand a single system bus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that avirtualization manager may be practiced using a computer system that hasmultiple processors and/or multiple buses. In addition, the interfacesthat are used preferably each include separate, fully programmedmicroprocessors that are used to off-load compute-intensive processingfrom processor 110. However, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat these functions may be performed using I/O adapters as well.

Display interface 140 is used to directly connect one or more displays165 to computer system 100. These displays 165, which may benon-intelligent (i.e., dumb) terminals or fully programmableworkstations, are used to provide system administrators and users theability to communicate with computer system 100. Note, however, thatwhile display interface 140 is provided to support communication withone or more displays 165, computer system 100 does not necessarilyrequire a display 165, because all needed interaction with users andother processes may occur via network interface 150.

Network interface 150 is used to connect computer system 100 to othercomputer systems or workstations 175 via network 170. Network interface150 broadly represents any suitable way to interconnect electronicdevices, regardless of whether the network 170 comprises present-dayanalog and/or digital techniques or via some networking mechanism of thefuture. In addition, many different network protocols can be used toimplement a network. These protocols are specialized computer programsthat allow computers to communicate across a network. TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is an example of asuitable network protocol.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system 200 utilizing anARE as described and claimed herein. The master system 100 is preferablya computer system as described in FIG. 1. The master computer system 100has an application 122 with deployment details 123, an ARE 124 with agraphical user interface (GUI) 210, and a deployment template 125 withcustom plugins 126 and XML Files 127. In the illustrated example, a useruses the GUI 210 to create a deployment template 125 to verify and fixdeployment details on the target systems 212, 214, 216 based ondeployment details on a reference system. In this example, the referencesystem is the master system 100. The ARE 124 collects the deploymentdetails for the application 122 on the master system 100 depending onthe selections made by the user and then creates the deployment template125. After the deployment template is created, a user may customize thedeployment template by editing the XML files and adding custom plugins126 as described further below. Target systems 212, 214, 216 areconnected to the master system 100 with a network (175 in FIG. 1 asdescribed above). The target systems 212 214, 216 each include a copy ofthe application 122. The ARE 124 communicates with multiple targetsystems 212, 214, 216 to verify the deployment of application 122 on thetarget systems. The ARE 124 on the master system 100 sends thedeployment template 125 to an ARE core 220 on each of the target systems212, 214, 216. The ARE core is a copy of the ARE, or some portion of theARE that uses the deployment template 125 on the target system to verifyand fix the deployment as described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram that shows further details of the ARE124 being used to create a user configurable deployment template 125.The ARE 124 collects deployment details 123 of the application (122FIG. 1) to create the deployment template 125. The deployment details123 include operating system deployment details 310, applicationdeployment details 312 and application configuration deployment details314. The deployment details are physical condition and runtimeattributes of the application that can be verified and/or fixed by theARE. A user 316 utilizes the GUI 210 of the ARE 124 to create andconfigure the deployment template 125 for deployment verification of theapplication 222 on each of the target systems 212, 214, 216. The user316 utilizes the GUI 210 of the ARE 124 to make a selection ofdeployment details the user wishes to check on the target system.Alternatively, the system could verify all possible deployment details.Next, the ARE 124 collects the deployment details for the application122 on the reference system and then creates the deployment template 125depending on the selections made by the user. Thus, the deploymenttemplate is created with XML 127 files that contain information aboutthe specific items to verify as selected by the user. Preferably, afterthe template is created, a user can edit the logic of the XML files 127to further customize the verification and fixes for the target system.The GUI 210 of the ARE 124 allows a user 316 to customize a deploymenttemplate to verify the details of the operating system 310, application312, or application configuration 314 that are specific to thedeployment for which the template is being created. The ARE alsoprovides for the user 316 to insert additional user-created, customplugins 126 into the deployment template to augment the deploymentverification of the user's specific application and/or environment. Thedeployment template may also include predefined plugins to be executedon the target system for deployment verification as described furtherbelow.

The deployment details 123 in FIG. 3 are not all inclusive. Theillustrated deployment details 123 are representative of the physicalcondition, runtime configuration and runtime attributes related to anapplication deployed on a computer system that can be included in thedeployment template. There are literally hundreds of deployment detailsthat could be implemented as described herein. The deployment detailsare gathered by the ARE and used to create a deployment template. Theoperating system deployment details 310 may include user permissions ofindividuals or groups specified by a user ID. The operating systemdeployment details 310 may also include environment variables defined bythe system, or details used to verify system wide environmentinformation such as network verification and configuration details, toinsure the network on the target system is configured and working asexpected. The operating system deployment details may further includedependent products on the system. The dependent products details areused by the ARE to insure that all dependent software required by theapplication is installed on the target system. Other operating systemdeployment details may include ports and network, etc. The applicationdeployment details 312 may include a listing of all the files andprograms needed by the application on the target system. The applicationdeployment details 312 may also include fixes or code patches that areneeded by the application. The application configuration deploymentdetails 314 include application configuration data such as databaseattributes and configuration attributes of a property file. Further, theoperating system data configuration deployment details may includenetwork configuration and exit points (code hooks for system calls).Each of the categories of deployment details may include file anddirectory attributes, file and directory authorities.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram to illustrate the structure of a deploymenttemplate 125 as described above. The deployment template is preferably aset of files packaged together into a compressed file such as a JavaArchive file (JAR). The deployment template preferably includes aconfiguration information 410, XML files 127, custom plugins 126, andplugin runtime files 416. The configuration information 410 includesbuild and version information 418, plugin configuration 420 and pluginmanifest 422. The build and version information describes the data/timethe template was built and the template version. The pluginconfiguration describes information needed by specific plugins. Forexample, if a plugin needs an XML file for input (to tell the pluginwhat to check or what an expected state should be), that input file isspecified in the plugin configuration. The plugin manifest is a list ofplugins to be run. The ARE core inspects the manifest to determine whatplugins to run. The configuration information may be stored in XML andthe build and version info 418 may be implemented as a Java class. TheXML files 127 may include files for each of the deployment details 123described above. Some of those are shown here for illustration.

The XML files 127 are logic or rule files for verifying and/or fixing acorresponding configuration detail in the target system. The XML filesare used by the plugin code or code in the ARE core to verify or fix thetarget deployment as described further below. The XML files aregenerated when information about the deployment is collected from the“good” system, which is used as a reference for creating the deploymenttemplate. In the examples described herein, the “good” system with thereference deployment is on the master system, but the “good” system maybe another remotely located computer system used by the master system tocreate the deployment template. One or more XML files may be created foreach of the different physical condition, runtime configuration andruntime attributes that are to be verified on the target system asillustrated by the multiple boxes for each attribute.

The deployment template 125 preferably has custom plugins 126 andpredefined plugin runtime code 416. The plugins 126, 416 are used by theARE core to verify and fix deployment details in the target system. Theplugin runtime 416 is preferably compiled JAVA code. The custom plugins126 are plugins written by the user and added to the deployment templateby the user when creating the template using the ARE GUI 210. The AREcore on the target system executes the plugins 126, 416 in thedeployment template 125. The plugins 126, 416 use the information in theXML files 127 to verify and/or fix an attribute of the deployment on thetarget system. The ARE core may or may not contain all the codenecessary to verify the target system. The deployment templateaccommodates plugin runtime code 416 to utilize the XML files to verifythe deployment details. Alternatively the plugin runtime code 416 forthe predefined deployment details could be part of the ARE core 220(FIG. 2) on the target systems.

As introduced above, the ARE allows the user to edit the logic of thedeployment template in the XML files corresponding to the deploymentdetails to be verified on the target system. For example, an XML filegenerated by the ARE may check the files needed for the application. Theuser may modify the logic of this XML file to check for different filesbased on the different release versions of the software to customize theverification to accommodate these different versions. The user wouldsimply add if/then logic to the XML file to check for the needed filesfor each version of the application. Similarly, the user can customizethe XML files 126 for other deployment details.

In addition to verification of deployment details, the ARE structuredescribed herein supports the user being able to fix an attribute of thetarget system. For example, when information is collected for thedeployment, information about file authorities is collected. Fileauthorities determine permission users have to files on a system. Usingthe file authority information in an XML file in the deploymenttemplate, the file authority plugin, which is one plugin included in theplugin runtime code 416, can modify a file's authority on the targetsystem to match the file's authority on the reference system. Similarly,many different application configuration and environment details can befixed in addition to being verified on the target system. Alternatively,the user could fix attributes on the target system by editing XML logicfor predefined plugins with a fix feature. In another example, the usercould make fixes by adding additional plugins that can fix deploymentdetails of the target system based on data collected from the referencesystem and passed to the ARE core in the deployment template.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample XML file of a deployment template to fix adeployment detail in a target system. In this simple example, two systemvalues on the target system are compared with values found on thereference system. The system values checked are the system's language510, and the country 512 assigned to the system. This sample XML file ishighly simplified to illustrate a piece of the deployment template. Anactual deployment template would comprise many such system checks toverify the target system against the reference deployment on the mastersystem. In addition, system values on the target system can be correctedor fixed to comply with the reference deployment. In the sample XMLfile, a check of the system language is done to determine if thelanguage is English 514. A fix of the system value (language) is madewith a call to a JAVA method using a reference in the XML (REFERENCE 0)516. In this example, a JAVA Virtual Machine (JVM) processes this XMLfile and recognizes the defined reference and uses the reference toinvoke a JAVA method “fixSystemValue” 518. The JAVA method“fixSystemValue” makes the fix to the corresponding system values usingthe defined parameters 520. In the same way, the system value forcountry 512 is checked and fixed with the parameters for country 522.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sample custom plugin 200 created by a user toinclude in a deployment template. This simple example illustrates what aplugin format would look like and its basic operation. The exampleplugin 200 checks an environment variable called PATH 610. If theenvironment variable includes “/usr/bin” as part of the path, then theplugin 200 reports the PATH environment variable is correct 612. If theenvironment variable does not includes “/usr/bin” as part of the path,then the plugin 200 reports the PATH environment variable is incorrect614.

FIG. 7 shows a method 700 for creating a deployment template as claimedherein. The steps in method 700 are preferably performed by the ARE 123(FIG. 1) in conjunction with input from a system user via the graphicaluser interface 210 (FIG. 2) to create a deployment template 125 (FIG.1). The deployment template is then used to verify and fix thedeployment of the application on the target systems. First, allow theuser to select which deployment details to include in the deploymenttemplate and verify and fix on the target system (step 710). Next,collect deployment details for the application on the known good system(step 715). Optionally, then allow the user to add plugins (step 730).Then build a template using the collected details (step 725). If theuser is not done customizing the template (step 730=no), then the userselects a detail of the deployment to modify (step 735). Then the useris allowed to edit the logic of selected deployment detail (step 740)and return to step 730. The user preferably edits the logic in an XMLfile associated with the selected detail in the manner described above.If the user is done customizing the template (step 730=yes), thengenerate the XML files (step 750) and package them into a template byputting all the files into a compressed file (step 755) such as acompressed Java ARchive file (JAR).

FIG. 8 shows a method 800 for verifying and fixing the deployment of atarget system using a deployment template as claimed herein. The steps805 are preferably performed by the ARE 124 (FIG. 1) on the mastersystem, and the steps 810 are preferably performed by the ARE core 220(FIG. 2) on a remote system. On the master system, first identify an AREdeployment template (step 815). This step may be a user input to selecta deployment template that was created as described above with referenceto method 700. Next, send the deployment template to the target systems(step 820). If the target systems have not completed processing thedeployment template (step 825=no), then loop back to step 825. When thetarget systems have completed processing the deployment template (step825=yes), then report the results (step 830) and the method on themaster system is done.

Again referring to FIG. 8, the method steps 810 of the ARE core on thetarget system are as follows. The ARE core may be setup at a differenttime than the deployment template as assumed here, or may be setup inconjunction with sending the deployment template. First, initiate theARE core on the target systems (step 835). Initiating the ARE core maybe done by the user, or may be done by the ARE on the master system inconjunction with sending the deployment template. The target systemreceives (arrow 821) a deployment template (step 840). Next, the AREcore executes plugins in the deployment template to collect and comparedeployment details on the target system with the deployment details fromthe reference system in the deployment template (step 845). Then,optionally, fix deployment details based on the comparison in theprevious step (step 850). Consolidate the results of the comparison andsend (arrow 856) the results to the master system (step 855). The mastersystem will then report the results as described above. The method isthen done.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

As described above, an ARE assists the user in verifying and fixingconfiguration and environment details of an application deployed onmultiple computer systems using a user customizable XML template thatcontains configuration and environment details from a master system thathas a known good deployment. In the illustrated examples, the ARE allowsa user to verify an application deployment on multiple systems andplatforms with the customized template that describes the configurationof a deployed application that can be executed with a generic coreruntime code.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure isparticularly shown and described above, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theclaims.

1. An apparatus comprising: a master computer system comprising at leastone processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor havingan installed application; an Application Runtime Expert (ARE) thatverifies a deployment of an application on a target computer system,wherein the deployment of the application includes the runtimeconfiguration and environment of the application; wherein the AREcreates a deployment template for verification of the deployment of theapplication, wherein the deployment template is user configurable andcontains runtime configuration details, and environment detailscollected from a reference system with a known good deployment of theapplication; wherein the ARE sends the deployment template to the targetcomputer to be used by an ARE core executing on the target computer toverify the deployment of the application on the target computer system;and wherein the deployment template includes logic to fix a deploymentdetail of the deployment of the application on the target computersystem.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the ARE allows a user tocustomize the deployment template by editing one or more logic filesused by plugins to verify corresponding details of the deployment of theapplication on a target computer system.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the ARE allows the user to edit the deployment template to add auser defined plugin that implements a user specified verification of thedeployment of the application on a target computer system.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the target computer system is locatedremotely from the master system.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein thereference system with the known good deployment is on the master system.6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the deployment template comprisesone or more extensible markup language (XML) files compressed into aJava Archive file (JAR).
 7. An article of manufacture comprising: anapplication runtime expert stored on a computer non-transitoryrecordable media that when executed by a computer processor performs thesteps of: collecting deployment details from a known good deployment ofan application on a reference system where the deployment detailscomprise configuration details and environment details of theapplication; building a user configurable deployment template thatcontains logic files to verify the deployment details, wherein thedeployment template includes logic to fix a deployment detail of thedeployment of the application; customizing the deployment template withuser input; receiving the deployment template on a target system;executing code on the target system that uses the deployment template tocollect deployment details from the target system; comparing deploymentdetails of the reference system with deployment details from the targetsystem; fixing deployment details on the target system using the logicincluded in the deployment template; and reporting results of thecomparing step.
 8. The article of manufacture of claim 7 wherein thestep of customizing the deployment template allows a user to edit thelogic files.
 9. The article of manufacture of claim 7 wherein the stepof customizing the deployment template allows the user to edit thedeployment template to add a user defined plugin that implements a userspecified verification of the deployment of the application on a targetcomputer system.
 10. The article of manufacture of claim 7 wherein thedeployment template comprises one or more extensible markup language(XML) files compressed into a Java Archive file (JAR).
 11. The articleof manufacture of claim 7 further comprising the step of allowing theuser to select which deployment detail checks to place in the deploymenttemplate.
 12. A computer-implemented method for verifying a deploymentof an application on a target computer system, the method comprising thesteps of: collecting deployment details from a known good deployment ofthe application on a reference system where the deployment detailscomprise configuration details and environment details of theapplication; building a user configurable deployment template thatcontains logic files to verify the deployment details, wherein thedeployment template includes logic to fix a deployment detail of thedeployment of the application; receiving the deployment template on thecomputer target system; executing code on the target system that usesthe deployment template to collect deployment details from the targetsystem; comparing deployment details of the reference system withdeployment details from the target system; fixing deployment details onthe target system using the logic included in the deployment template;reporting results of the comparing step; and wherein the method stepsare implemented in a computer software program stored in computer memoryand executed by a computer processor.
 13. The method of claim 12 furthercomprising the step of allowing a user to edit the logic files tocustomize the deployment template.
 14. The method of claim 13 whereinthe step of customizing the deployment template by the user includesallowing the user to add a user defined plugin that implements a userspecified verification of the deployment of the application on a targetcomputer system.
 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the deploymenttemplate comprises one or more extensible markup language (XML) filescompressed into a Java Archive file (JAR).
 16. The method of claim 12further comprising the step of allowing the user to select whichdeployment detail checks to place in the deployment template.